Looking to get a new revolver for Steel Challenge and starting to shoot ICORE.Looking at a 627 or 929. I know it’s cheaper to reload 929. Some input would be great. Thanks

The 6 round capacity puts a premium in your marksmanship skills. They MUST be good shots or you are done!

I shoot Steel Challenge with my Model 15 for center fire and my Model 17-6 for rimfire....once in a while my Model 41 will show up and using that is almost like cheating.........

For ICORE I use my Dad's Service Revolver...a K-38 that is from 1947 and still shoots incredibly well and is SO smooth....again almost like cheating....

Randy

I regularly shoot steel challenge.
Tried my 8-shot 327 TRR8 loaded with 38 Mid.
Have had much better results with my 986 7 shooter.
Just quicker and handier for me.

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

There are only 5 targets for steel challenge, there is no power factor, they are pretty big & close. If you don't/can't hit 5 in a row, you will likely lose anyway. IMO. Nothing very special needed. A 38 model 10 or 681 work fine for me.

I have a 8 shot 627 Pro that I'm using for the local steel challenge and other pistol matches. The 8 shooter is a real game changer IMO.
I like the balance of the 4". I usually use 38 special for the matches. But like the fact I can use full blown .357 Mag.

I had a 929, but a friend was wanting one really bad, and I had the hots for the 627. So, I sold it to him.
IMO, the 929 may be a better competition revolver. The longer sight radius and total lack of recoil ( kicks like a .22) makes moving from target to target very fast.

Personally I think the 929 has a few 'bugs' that need to be worked out. Do a search on this forum about the 929. But they are mostly minor and can be worked out.

Probably shouldn't have sold the 929 and one of these days I'll probably get another one.

Both are nice..

If you handload, and use .38 Short or Long Colt in the 627 - it is pretty much a toss-up as far as speed of the reload. Secondary decision criteria would be cost of ammo reloading and barrel length.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

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NRA Benefactor Member

I have a 929 that I don't shoot much...the barrel is too darn long(FYI 929s will chamber 38 Short Colt). I know a local shooter who regularly shoots 929 in steel matches; he cut most of the front of his holster away to prevent drag of the long barrel. I much prefer 627-4 or dash 5 with Short Colt handloads.

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

I have and use both. The 627 5inch is a bit faster handling, but the 929 with the 6.5 barrel is more accurate for longer shots. With either one to have a good smooth trigger you will probably have to reload your ammo and run federal primers after you work the action over for a lighter pull. Something on the plus side for the 929 is that federal has a commercial 147 grain coated ammo available that will work really well with light triggers if you do not reload.

A fellow shooter (female) just bought a 929 as an upgrade to her 686-4 AFS. She had extreme difficulty with the trigger out of the box.

I changed the factory trigger rebound spring to a 14 Ib spare I had in my shooting box. The result was a much smoother and lighter trigger with no alteration to the mainspring impact force, therefore no lightening of primer impact.

The 929 came with a factory fitted ribbed power mainspring which was the only other alteration I would have made.

One drawback with the 929 is that some moon clips do not go all the way in without a forceful push, and sometimes when they do go in easily they are hard to extract. I’m not sure if that is due to some bending of the clip through inexperienced use or not.

When I had my 929, had a few sticky extracts at first. I started using all Winchester brass and never noticed the problem after that.
( I'm not sure why ? but it seemed to solve the problem.)

I also noticed a bit of bullet 'jump' with plated bullets. Increased the taper crimp by .001 -.002 and also started using coated bullets and noticed less or no bullet jump.

My 929 quickly became my favorite revolver. I loved shooting 9 mm over reloading .38 short colts. I had an excellent trigger, just over 5 lbs and had no problems once I switched to using Winchester cases.

One thing that I found was until I had tried and used all of the brass I was reloading for the 929 and kept them separate I would notice that sticky case ,hard to insert/hard to extract problem and I found that the major reason for it in my experience was for a lack of a better term "glock bulged" brass. Once all swelled brass was replaced I no longer had that problem

Just a quick comment on Federal factory fresh ammo. Several of us in our steel shooting group have experienced "no bangs" with Federal ammo. Of course the guns have lightened actions but are totally reliable with handloads made with Federal primers. Some Federal factory primers are not set as deeply as handloaders normally do. Not a knock on Federal, but if you're shooting an important match it might be worthwhile to hand set the factory primers.

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

Which 627 are you looking at? I was deciding between the 929 and the 5" 627 PC and chose the 929. I chose the 929 because I already have a variety of older 6 shot 38 Specials and .357 Magnums and wanted something different.

Another consideration for me was that the 5" 627 isn't cut for moonclips anymore and I wanted something I could easily reload at the range.

The guns are very similar with more similarities than differences. It kind of comes down to what exactly you are looking for.

FWIW if you reload the cost between the 2 rounds is pretty much the same. If you don't reload the cost favors 9mm, however there is a much more diverse selection of .38 Special and .357 Magnum rounds out there where 9mm is much more limited. Light .38 loads will be lighter than the lightest 9mm loads out there and hot .357 Magnum loads will be hotter than the hottest 9mm out there.

At this time I’m more leaning toward the 929. I already reload for my Beretta so I’m set up for 9mm. But there is a lot of .38 for sale.

Since speed is the most important factor in Steel Challenge, you'd better be prepared for a super fast reload when you miss shot #6 or have the extra 2 shots in the cylinder.

Years ago I use to shoot a S&W 625 and almost never missed. I love the full moon clips just in case I needed to reload. Nothing loads faster than the 625.



I agree that the goal is to shoot 5 for 5 but with old age, bad eyesight and Parkinsons I no longer expect to shoot that well and take any advantage I can get.

The only 627s that I know of that are NOT cut for moonclips are the early 6 shot ones, and there may be others I'm not aware of, but I think that any recent 627 8 shot is cut for moons.

S&W's website shows otherwise. I was looking yesterday and I'm pretty sure there's even fewer models with moonclips then there were at the end of last year.

It's still possible to find the 5" 627 on Gunbroker with moonclips and being sold as NIB, but most of the models mention chamfered charge holes with no mention of moonclips and no moonclips pictured

Mine 2.5” 627-5 is cut for moon clips...

Attached Images

409D6183-F194-4EE5-8151-B30D048950CF.jpg (57.3 KB, 49 views)

Funnily enoughnthe ammo in use was Winchester 124 gn JRN.

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View from down under

Even though it doesn't say cut for moonclips the 627 performance center with a 5 inch barrel is cut for moonclips, I have bought two of them in the last year and I definitely use moonclips in them. SKU 170210

FWIW, I really don't think that .38/.357 is any more expensive to reload than 9mm, unless you split or lose a lot of brass. .38/.357 bullets are just about the same weight as 9mm. And to be honest, I would probably select 147-gr coated for 9mm, presuming the gun shot it okay.

FWIW- I had an extra cylinder fitted to my 627 Pro so I can shoot 9mm. I have the best of both worlds now!

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Guns + Dogs= Bliss

I made a 7 shot 38 Super cylinder for a 686. Now it can do 6 shots of 38/357 or 7 shots of 38 Super. An extra cylinder is a cheap way to get another caliber.

Has anyone shot a SW 10-8 in .38? Yes it a older revolver. But is a 627, 686 or 929 that much better? There’s a 10-8 thats custom build for Steel I’m looking at.

I have a model 10 I’ve and my daughter has shot in IDPA. Good reliable gun. Can’t say for steels, as am not real familiar with the rules and divisions.

As far as IDPA, I’d stay with the model 10. If Shooting USPSA, I’d go with either the 929 or 627.

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Guns + Dogs= Bliss

I went a long way in Steel Challenge shooting a 6 inch Model 10. It can be done and don't let anyone tell you differently. What you have to do is make your shots count. Even with the 8 shooters, its going 5 for 5 that wins the game. Learn to shoot at your speed and don't try to shoot faster than you can.

At my level I'd take the 929 but if I were just starting out an didn't want to spend over a grand for my pistol and then hundreds of dollars on accessories I'd buy an old Model 10.

I'm subscribing to this thread as I have been struggling with the 627 vs 929 debate for a year now. In my case, this would be an ICORE and USPSA shooter. New to handloading but feel good about my .38 special loads with hand priming and on a single stage. Also considering going with the 627 and running short colt brass.

Issues I have encountered in my research: almost every 929 needs some tweeking. As described to me - they are a kit gun with all the parts pre-assembled. Expect some drama during break-in that will need to be addressed. There's also a group that contends that one needs to load .357 bullets on 9mm brass to get optimum accuracy. Like stated above, they are picky on the brass for extraction, so either sort your brass or start with new (with moonclip shooting, you'll get your brass back anyway, so you can keep track of it).

I too worry about the long barrel. Good for sight radius I suppose but a challenge for draw.

The other issue I'm considering is that with the 929, you MUST use moonclips. The 627 can be loaded in the traditional manner or use speedloaders which would make it convenient for casual range shooting.

But my understanding is that the current top shooters are all on 929's at this point, so there must be an advantage.

I don't know much about ICORE but it has only been in the last year or two (here at least) that the 8 shot revolvers can be utilised to the fullest in IPSC/USPSA. Prior to this only 6 rounds could be fired at a time. The top revolver shooters will probably be using the 8 shot 929, but they are better able to maximise the 8 round advantage because they know that slow is smooth and smooth is fast. They all started out shooting 6 and 7 shot revolvers smoothly developing their skills and speed.

USPSA/IPSC will require a 125 minimum power factor (speed in fps X bullet weight in grains divided by 1000). That requires a 158 gn bullet travelling at just under 800 fps to make minimum PF.

Given that temperature can effect velocity a safety margin of at least another 5 PF, with most shooters opting for 9-10 PF will be needed. Does the .38 Short Colt round allow this?

Hodgdon's online loading manual has a maximum velocity with a 135 gn bullet of 760 fps (Tightgroup) or 777 fps (HP38) Admittedly that is for use in revolvers built well over 100 years ago, not the modern N frame S&W, but case capacity will be a factor.

When shooting minor calibre my minimum PF in both 9mm and .38 Special +P is 134, the same as a 124 gn 9mm bullet at 1085 fps. Some Australian shooters a few years ago loaded their ammunition to 130 PF in desert type conditions (South Australia/Northern Territory) and bought it to New Zealand to shoot in our Nationals and failed to make PF due to our much lower temperatures at the time.

Most pistols, not just the 929, will require "tweaking". As I wrote above, a club mate bought a new 929 that she had difficulty working the trigger until I replaced the trigger rebound spring with a "lighter" 14 Ib one (my 686 has a 12 Ib rebound spring while my Victory has a 13 Ib one). While my 686-4 is stock apart from the trigger return spring, a full power ribbed mainspring and an extended mainspring screw, if this 929 were mine I would be polishing the cylinder chambers as well as probably the internal parts too.

My Kimber 9mm 1911 has had a mag well plus an 18 Ib main hammer spring, reduced recoil slide spring system and all internal parts lightly polished. The factory sights are about to be replaced too.

As for the draw, swinging your pistol up as soon as the muzzle clears the holster can lead to overswing and having to reverse the gun down again (I did this for many years before I learned differently). Most shooters I know will draw their pistol until their gun hand is between waist and chest, if not right up to armpit, height and punch the gun out after rotating it level. The longer barrel is not really any disadvantage with this type of draw.

As someone who is constantly tinkering with his competition pistols my advice would be to select a basic pistol with the intention of a) making necessary improvements one at a time, and b) taking it slow and smooth to start with and let speed come naturally.

I regularly score better than shooters who are much faster than I am, both between shots and moving around the range, simply by slowing down enough to shoot accurately. I think it was a gentleman named What Earp who made the comment that "speed is fine, accuracy is final".

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View from down under

Just to finish my comments: I made my decision over the weekend. I went with a 627. In the end, I decided I want all my revolver loads to be the same caliber. To keep the bang going, I hand prime Federals and I was daunted by the thought of having to divide the stash. On the other hand, I can see that I will probably be moving to .38 short colt in the near future.

BTW: to address a question above: mine is brand new and not only is it cut for moon clips, a couple were thrown in for free gift with purchase.